this is a one shot fic, on the train to hogwarts at the beginning of seventh year. if you can't tell whose perspective it's in, read the books.
disclaimer: jk rowling owns harry potter and subsequent characters.
she's sitting in the compartment across from you. she's never done that. she's always been in the same compartment on every train ride to and from hogwarts, every year. but things have changed. it's seventh yeah, you haven't seen her since june. to top it all off, she spent the summer at her uncle's house. her uncle who happens to be close friends with a certain blonde family. apparently, she's close with them now to. she's sitting with him. you can't help staring. her caramel hair is shorter now, an inch or two above her shoulders. and it's straight. you only ever saw it straight once, that time at the yule ball. it's very shocking, because she looks more beautiful than ever, and you always thought that she was gorgeous. she tucks it behind her ears and glances towards your compartment, and you turn your head, but probably not fast enough. you chance a look back, just as she turns back to face him. she runs her tongue across her lips, and your mouth gapes open. she rubs them together as she digs in her pockets, looking for something. she stands up, and opens the door, and you immediately look out the window, afraid of being caught staring. you can hear her pulling a bag off of the luggage rack and rifling through it, then shoving the bag back up where it came from. you turn back and watch her sit and open the cap on her pumpkin-pie lip balm. you can smell it from here. hell, you can taste it; from the time she kissed you in hogsmeade on christmas last year. she shoves the lip balm into her pocket, and looks at him, her hand grasping his across the gap. he smiles, no, smirks, and winks at her. she blushes and giggles and you want to puke. she releases his hand and adjusts her hair, tucking it back again. she turns towards you, and smiles. you smile back. this is how it has to be, you think. watching her with someone else, whether it's krum, or harry, or seamus, or malfoy. she'll never go back to how it could have been. never.